Fix bad CDROM driver in WinXP (and other O/S)

If you encounter a situation where your CDROM hardware verifies good, but
you have a yellow triangle in device manager stating your hardware
is not available...

1) Close all open programs
2) Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter
3) Click on the plus signs (+) next to the following folders
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
* SYSTEM
* CurrentControlSet
* Control
* Class
* {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

4) This folder is the DVD/CD-ROM Drive Class Description in the registry. Look for any of the following names in the right hand column.
* UpperFilters
* LowerFilters
* UpperFilters.bak
* LowerFilters.bak

5) If any of the above keys shown in step 4 are listed, right-click on them and choose Delete
6) After deleting the keys, close the Registry Editor
7) Reboot your computer



http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-25531-help-i-have-uninstalled-my-cd-dvd-rom-driver

Manually removing partitions in Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415

Diskpart enables a superset of the actions that are supported by the Disk Management snap-in. The Disk Management snap-in prohibits you from inadvertently performing actions that may result in data loss. It is recommended that you use the Diskpart utility cautiously because Diskpart enables explicit control of partitions and volumes.

Why Bob Parsons of GoDaddy is an Ass Hat

Although I used to recommend GoDaddy for website hosting, once my term runs out I will no longer be using them, and I encourage all to not use them either. CEO Bob Parsons' stand on game hunting of endangered species to further his own zest for machismo and publicity is morally repugnant. I am appalled at the century he seems to be living in, and I am very disappointed.

If Mr. Parsons truly wished to help feed people in Africa, I would think there are better ways of doing so that promote sustainabilty and not animal slaughter.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/31/bob-parsons-godaddy-ceo-elephant-hunt_n_843121.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/peta-closes-godaddy-account-after-ceo-shoots-elephant.html

UPDATE:  GoDaddy also supported the SOPA and PIPA bills against internet freedom...

http://godaddyboycott.org/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57350209-501465/did-go-daddy-sopa-boycott-work/

Compaq Presario SR1720NX Athlon X2 upgrade and Bad Image

Recently I had a Presario SR1720NX thrown at me for a repair. Nomatter
how many times I reloaded from the restore partition, it would soon lockup after login. Task manager would not work, clicking the mouse did nothing.
It was like the machine would seize up for no reason, as if you had a bad motherboard or something.
I fixed it by reloading with a known good CD of Windows XP Pro. The machine worked fine after that. The fctory image was garbage.
During this time, I also was able to upgrade the Socket 939 Sempron to an Athlon X2 processor (the board will support up to Athlon x2 4800+). No issues were found, swapped out old IDE for a SATA drive as well.

Use VMWARE to create a WINXP VM if you cant run XPMode natively.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11060/create-an-xp-mode-for-windows7-home-versions-and-vista/

Use VMWARE to create a WINXP VM if you cant run XPMode natively, in case your machine doesnt support hardware virtualization or your Windows7 license doesnt include XP mode (as in Home Premium).

Issue with boot.ini SIGNATURE entry

Windows 2000's boot.ini ARC syntax adds the signature() statement. See NT's boot.ini for a writeup of Windows NT's ARC syntax. The signature() syntax added to Windows 2000 is equivalent to the scsi() syntax, but adds support for Plug and Play architecture. For Plug and Play operating systems, the SCSI controller number instance may vary each time you start the operating system, especially if you add new SCSI controller hardware after Setup is finished. An example of the signature( ) syntax:
signature(8c468c12)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\winnt="Windows 2000"

In Windows 2000, the signature() syntax instructs the NTLDR program to locate the drive whose disk signature matches the value in the signature parentheses, no matter which SCSI controller number the drive is connected to. The signature() value is extracted from the physical disk's Master Boot Record (MBR). The signature value is a hexadecimal number that is written to the MBR during the text-mode portion of Setup, or it is written by an installation of Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 or earlier. Yes, its that signature written to the disk the first time NT / W2K / XP accesses the hard drive using Disk Manager.

Windows 2000 / XP uses the signature( ) syntax in the boot.ini if one of the following conditions exists:

Your PC's BIOS or the IDE controller does not support int13 BIOS extensions
The int13 BIOS extensions are disabled.
The installation partition is larger than 7.8 GBs.
The ending cylinder number for the installation partition is higher than 1024.
Your SCSI controller's BIOS is disabled and thus int13 BIOS calls cannot be used during the boot process.
There is an important gotcha! if the signature gets corrupted or changed. Now the boot.ini can not find the correct partition to boot from and you get the following error:

Windows 2000 could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows 2000 documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.

You can try replacing the signature(#####) portions of the statement with multi(0) and the disk should boot fine in most cases.

FREE CLONING SOFTWARE FROM SEAGATE

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads

A stripped down version of Acronis. Free to all who own a seagate drive (must be installed to work).